Banda Mantiqueira

BANDA MANTIQUEIRA "A happy fusion of talent and competence" The idea behind Banda Mantiqueira came from the clarinetist, sax player, composer and arranger. Nailor Azevedo, or as he's known in music circles, "Proveta" The band is made up of musicians who have always been very close to him. In Brazil, it's common knowledge that instrumental music occupies a small niche and it hasn't been easy to keep a big band running. But, due to the great talent and competence of its musicians the band has earned great recognition and respect from critics and public, both in Brazil and abroad. In creating the band, Proveta looked for musicians who also had a desire to express Brazilian sentiment through music. From the universe of Brazilian popular composers, Proveta has chosen some incredible pieces from great talents, such as: Pixinguinha, Tom Jobim, Jacob do Bandolim, Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho, Ernesto Nazareth, Joao Bosco, Guinga, Luiz Gonzaga, Dorival Caymmi, Joyce. To this rich repertoire he added his own compositions and those of Edson Alves, all brilliantly arranged for bigband. Although the band features excellent soloists, it valorizes the sum of its musicians more than individuality. The band started playing in bars. First for a few months, in the famous and very much missed, Sanja, home of the most talented players in Sao Paulo. After that, on Mondays, the band played for four years to a sold out house at "Vou Vivendo", another venue known for good music. From 1997 to the present, the band has sold out every performance at Supremo Musical, on Tuesdays. The band has also played in several units of SESC- SP. At the Kaiser Bock Winter Festival, in 1997 the band played with guest artists Gal Costa, Guinga and Sergio Santos. Mantiqueira also appeared in Lisbon, Portugal, at Expo 98, and at the Free Jazz Festival in Rio de Janeiro and SP. The band appeared in four concerts with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) in its new venue, Sala Sao Paulo, in December of 2000, at the invitation of conductor, John Neschling. While touring the United States of America in October 2002, the band played with OSESP in Costa Mesa, California and Ann Arbor, Michigan. That same year the band played at the San Francisco Jazz Festival and at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with highly favorable reviews from the Los Angeles Times and Chigago Tribune. Through an invitation from conductor Yeruhan S, the band played with Orquestra S. Brasileira at the Municipal Theater of RJ. The band has three albums: Aldeia (1996) and Bixiga (2000) both on the label Pau Brasil and with OSESP, in concert at Sala SP in December 2000. Aldeia was nominated for a Grammy in 1998. The band's latest album (o nome do CD) is due to be released. From: http://www.bandamantiqueira.com.br/index_en.html Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.